Okorocha’s leaps in the dark

The Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, set the tone for his approach to governance with his maiden broadcast on June 6, 2011. During the broadcast, the governor, tagging his administration Rescue Mission government, announced a coterie of policies and far-reaching decisions regarding the state and its people.

This came at a time when the governor’s partners in governance, particularly the legislature and the executive council, were yet to be inaugurated and constituted respectively. Thus, several major policies were initiated without consultation or being made to pass through rigorous scrutiny by the legislature or any other relevant body.

As it is generally known, any public policy initiated by a government under separation of powers system must be backed by an enabling legislation. That is, the legislature must pass such a policy into law. This also allows for public participation and contributions through legislative hearings on such a bill under consideration.

As is often the case, if there are negative reactions from the public or the legislature regarding the bill, the executive may withdraw it or it may not be passed into a law that would later become a policy of the government. This enables the government to save the cost it would have otherwise committed to the execution of the policy. This is the hallmark of responsible and responsive governance.

This has not been the case with the administration of Governor Okorocha. He instituted a number of policies and embarked on some projects which have been generating rancour and controversies between the government and the governed. The government has had to reverse some of these policies based on the public’s reaction or rejection of the policies.

One of such policies is the relocation of the Imo State University main campus from Owerri zone to Ideato in Orlu zone. There were widespread public reactions and opposition to this move but it fell on the deaf ears of the government. Without an enabling legislation, the government acquired land and immediately started construction of new structures for the university. Hundreds of millions of naira were spent.

Several of the buildings had been completed. Out of the blues, Governor Okorocha, while interacting with a group of media practitioners, announced that his government was reversing its decision and returning the Imo State University back to Owerri zone based on negative public reactions. He also announced that the structures already developed in the Ideato zone would be appropriated for the newly proposed Imo-European University. He claimed that the proprietors of the new university would reimburse the state treasury for every penny the government spent on the project.

The governor also embarked on the spree of awarding contracts without taking into account the paucity and volatility of the state’s source of revenue. Over a hundred road contracts were awarded. Contracts were also awarded for the building of a hospital in each of the 27 local government areas of the state. The government also embarked on the construction of over 320 security gates in Owerri, the capital city. The road projects have largely been stalled. The hospitals have also been abandoned. The security gates have only not been abandoned but have been dogged by the controversy of the governor claiming that he never approved the construction in the first place.

The government further mired itself in bitter controversy by announcing the dissolution of the constitutional offices of elected local government councils and replacing them with illegal transition committees during his maiden broadcast. Statutorily tenured commissions of the state were also dissolved during the same broadcast.

As a result of its several illegal acts, the government has been subjected to over 300 citizen law suits. It is most likely that at the end when all the judgments from the various law suits may have been entered, the government’s treasury will be so burdened with judgment debts that the state will be hard pressed to finance any capital project.

With the illegal transition committees, the government will also end up paying two salaries for every political office in its local council areas. The July 5, 2012 Court of Appeal verdict has established that decision.

Critics have characterized Okorocha as exhibiting destructive bulldozer-like attitude through his actions and conduct, tagging him with the label of ‘bull in a China shop’. As a result, the governor has alienated himself from the well-meaning citizens of Imo State. His policy and project summersaults have projected him as undisciplined and immature administrator.

It behoves a responsible potential government to make credible campaign promises after factoring in necessary cost implications. As a commentator observed, trying to execute campaign promises made purely out of emotions, when the resources are not available for execution, only advances the hardships of the general public. A responsible government should bite only that which it can chew.

It is also pertinent that any policy or project of a long term nature must be backed by law or popular public opinion before it is embarked upon. This is the essence of democracy. As an observer once said, when the head of any administration imposes his will through executive fiat, it is no longer a democratic government but rather, an autocratic or imperialistic one.

Consultation and sensitization translates to due process. This brings about transparency.